Tag Archives: flexibility

^^ A sentence many a man has said over the years and continues to say to this day.

“I want to be lean and strong”

^^ Something I’m pleased to announce more women are saying, it seems there has been a shift in them saying ‘I just want to be skinny’ to now learning the benefit of being lean and strong, it’s great to see.

While it is only my opinion, I feel everybody should be strong.

I’m not talking about record breaking strong, just strong enough to stay healthy and stave off the effects of ageing on the body.

These sports all centre around lifting:

– Weightlifting (olympic lifting)

– Body Building

– Powerlifting

– Strongman

– CrossFit (some may not like this one)

Did you know lifting weights can have the following positive effects on the body:

Personally I’d say the mental improvement is the pivotal one as this can have the biggest impact on a persons life in a very positive way.

However….

If you’re not an athlete and lift for health/confidence you should do it because you enjoy it, not because you feel you have to, that’s the secret to balance and long term sustainability.

Don’t eat yourself up if you miss a session, chalk it up to life and sue it as a rest day, that way you’ll be more motivated when you get to go in, excited to train in fact. Keep this in mind and you’ll find you don’t fall out of love with training.

What if lifting isn’t for you?

That’s cool, find soothing you do enjoy, here are some other options for improving strength and all achieving all the other benefits mentioned above:

Do you feel your upper back is always filled with constant tension and requires stretching out?

Are your hamstrings painful after a long day of sitting?

Is your lower back in need of a good crack?

Well fear not, for I have the answer to your tenaciously tight areas;

DON”T STRETCH THEM.

No, you haven’t read that wrong, I said don’t stretch them. There is a high possibility that the muscles you feel are tight are actually trying to pull your body back into alignment (the body is clever like that you see).

If something is out of balance it will strive to hit the point of being ‘just right’ and all of your efforts to lengthen those areas that don’t need lengthening can potentially lead to injury. This is because your muscles are what is known as ‘Long Tight’ chances are they will also be very weak too, these muscles in question are filled with tension because they’re getting close to the point of going ‘ping’.

What can you do?

Stretch the opposing muscles & strengthen the ones you feel are tight (yes, you want to work the muscles you feel that are tight, this is because they are often long tight and weak).

If you have tight hamstrings, stretch your hips out. Try a Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch (Place one knee on the floor and elevate the foot, then extend your hips to feel the stretch.)

Maybe it’s your upper back that feels like rocks then stretch your chest. Use a Pec Stretch (Place one arm up against a wall, have your elbow in line with your shoulder with your forearm and hand directly about the elbow joint against your chosen prop. Lean forwards into the stretch.)

Perhaps lower back is the culprit… This will also require you to stretch your hips. As above.

A good pace to start would be by using all of the stretches I have given in combination with the Box Squat and Supinated Grip Seated Row, if you do you will find your body starts to feel pretty dam good in no time at all.